There are brilliant scholars and there are enthralling teachers. We want to help you merge these qualities. SemClass posts support the student/teacher relationship in ways that bring energy and expertise to both sides of the podium. »

From LMS to MOOC, the technology of teaching is changing faster than we can keep up. Once confident about our content, we are now being asked to present it in radical new ways. Do you need some support in this? Our SemTech bloggers can help. »

Loci is Latin for “localities” or “centers of focus.” It is shorthand for disciplines like comparative religions, theology, hermeneutics and history. We don’t all have the same AOC, and so SemLoci posts will touch on what is unique teaching your discipline. »

The world of higher academics is in flux. Private, public, and seminary institutions are remaking themselves. Studies about how and why students learn are transforming classrooms. Our SemTrends bloggers will help you stay on top of it. »

In my previous post I explored how wikis can be a helpful tool in fostering interest in and engagement with the study of the Bible. You might be wondering how much work is involved in the use of wikis, and how such a tool can be integrated into the learning experience. With this in mind I want to highlight a few issues that need to be kept in mind if wikis are to be used well.

One of the first things to consider is how a wiki will fit into the larger framework of your class….

My first forays into online learning were projects undertaken to address the “scarcities” of the face-to-face classroom. These were “embellishments” on the classroom that I discussed at the time in terms of collaboration, diffusion, and asynchrony. The “flipped classroom” stands too as a widespread attempt to address the scarcities of the brick-and-mortar learning space. This is why I find myself approaching “online learning” with an attitude different to some of my colleagues. Where some view the online platforms as threatening to “take away” goods associated with the face-to-face classroom, I had first turned to the online platforms seeking relief from the traditional classroom’s scarcities. In a previous post, I wrote about the face-to-face classroom and its scarcities (particularly time, space, permeability, and malleability). This week, I describe two kinds of online learning space and their own scarcities.

There was a time–remember?–when the face-to-face classroom wasn’t a sacrosanct wing, protected by Do-Not-Touch velvet ropes, in the Higher Ed Nostalgia Museum. A time–though to admit it now may seem tantamount to waving the white flag of pedagogical surrender to the advancing corporate-MOOC Visigoth hoards–when we educators used complain about the classroom.

Cari Lyn writes recently on Seminarium Blog about open-source “learning management systems” (LMSes) as one affordable approach to learning platforms, in which students can have opportunities for “[g]roup activities, research opportunities, and freedom of expression.” This has me reflecting on platforms: the face-to-face classroom, the closed LMSes, and the open/distributed platforms. Conversations about learning platforms tend to emphasize the “goods” of the face-to-face platform and the challenges of the online platforms. But before we had online learning platforms to be suspicious about, we used to complain about the limits of the classroom all the time.

So, in this post, I focus on the limits of the face-to-face classroom in terms of “scarcities.” In a second post, I will consider the respective “scarcities” of the closed and open online platforms. This will, I argue, provide a less skewed, more productive basis for comparing platforms or for considering “blended” solutions. So, let’s get started: What’s missing–necessarily, intrinsically missing–from the brick-and-mortar classroom…?

Despite the somewhat affordable techy options and features available in the educational market today if your school is limited on technology and attempting to stay in pace with the heavily saturated market of online/distant learning, how do you “keep up with the competition?” How do you deliver active and engaging eLearning if you are limited on technology? What exactly are your options?…

In ancient Rome, some emperors decided to try to enforce their authority by building a new forum, under their control, with their own statues, and temples dedicated to the gods of their ancestry. Imagine how hard it must have been to get people to stop going to the ancient forum—the one they were used to—and start going to the new one.

Now, when the emperors of the classroom (the professors) want to create an online space where meaningful interaction and discussion will happen, what do they do? They build a new forum, in Moodle or Blackboard, and then try to get their students to go there….

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